Caribou Barbie to rebrand?

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/283661-sarah-palin-to-address-cpac

This should be interesting, Ms Palin is at a political nadir right now, so what will she do? She can double-down and become ever more focused on the TEA Party / Bircher / Birther side of the Republicans, or she can reinvent herself. The second option would require some work though and I have always found Ms. Palin to be basically lazy in that regard. Her ambition was and is enormous but her work ethic has always been something less than fabulous. Who will show up at CPAC, the politician that rocked the staid male world of Alaska, or the grifter / bearded lady freak show that appeared on Fox? 

Specter Defects

Republican senator switches party

US Republican Senator Arlen Specter is to switch sides and become a Democrat.
The move would give the Democrats 59 votes in the US Senate, just one short of the 60 needed to overturn Republican attempts to block legislation.
The Democrats are expected to pick up their 60th vote when the result of the still-disputed Minnesota Senate race is decided by the courts.
Mr Specter, a moderate, said that since he joined the Republicans in 1980 the party had "moved far to the right".
"I now find my political philosophy more in line with Democrats than Republicans," he said in a statement announcing the switch.

'Thrilled'

He added: "My change in party affiliation does not mean that I will be a party-line voter any more for the Democrats that I have been for the Republicans."
President Barack Obama, a Democrat, is reported to have called Mr Specter after he was informed of the switch to tell him that he was "thrilled" to have him in his party.
Richard Lister, BBC News, Washington This is a big prize for President Obama on the eve of his 100th day in office.
There is an element of political survival in Senator Specter's decision. He acknowledged that he could not win re-election in Pennsylvania as a Republican.

Nevertheless, President Obama has given him his full support, and told him in a phone call the Democrats were delighted to have him. The Republican leadership has condemned Senator Specter's decision and vowed to defeat him when he stands for re-election.
Mr Specter, 79, had held secret talks with Mr Obama, along with other senior Democrats including Vice-President Joe Biden, ahead of his decision to leave the Republican Party, according to officials.
The BBC's Richard Lister in Washington says the news has sent shockwaves through Capitol Hill, where the president's power has been blunted by the votes of Senate Republicans.
The move should make it easier for Mr Obama to pursue his ambitious agenda, our correspondent adds.
Mr Specter was facing a tough challenge from conservative Pat Toomey in a primary election to decide who would run as the Republican candidate for Mr Specter's Pennsylvania Senate seat in 2010.
Polls suggested that Mr Specter's decision to vote for the president's economic stimulus package earlier this year had been unpopular with Republican activists in the state.
"I saw the stimulus as necessary to lessen the risk of a far more serious recession than we are now experiencing," Mr Specter said.
Since then, he added, "it has become clear to me that the stimulus vote caused a schism which makes our differences irreconcilable".
“ If Arlen Specter could have won as a Republican he would have stayed a Republican ”
Justin Webb
Mr Specter may have to fight off a primary challenge from a Democrat if he wants to be the party's Senate candidate in 2010, although he will have the support of senior party officials.
If he does win the Democratic nomination, he is likely to face off against Mr Toomey for the seat.
Including Mr Specter, there will now be 57 Democrats in the Senate. Two independents also vote with the party.
The result of the 2008 Minnesota Senate race is still being fought over in the courts.
State officials and a judge's panel have both awarded victory to Democrat Al Franken, but Republican Norm Coleman has appealed against the decisions to the state's Supreme Court.
A final verdict from the court is due in June.

snip
Eric Kleefeld,
Story from BBC NEWS:

© BBC MMIX

Comment:

The slow death of the Republican Party outside of its base in Dixie continues apace. Rockefeller Republicans have become DLC "Corporate friendly" Democrats. Nelson Rockefeller is dead but his political movement lives on represented by Cousin Jay, a Democrat.

Nothing speaks to this more forcefully than in Nelson's old stomping ground, the Northeast. At one time "Country Club" Republicans dominated the landscape. These were people of a specific political and economic class. It was a very WASPy, blueblood grouping with somewhat progressive leanings. These people followed a personal kind of Conservatism. It was a more honest and consistent type of Conservatism than what Regan offered. These Republicans were deeply invested in the status quo. They were not interested in revolution of any kind. They were open to reason and incremental change but not to radical shifts.

These blue bloods where the leadership of the Republican Party from the collapse of Herbert Hoover to the rise of Barry Goldwater. They were the survivors of the Tsunami that was FDR's New Deal. Eisenhower was the ne plus ultra of the Eastern Establishment.. Eisenhower entire eight year run can be seen as an ultimately vain attempt to preserve the New Deal as found. Ultimately the pressures of rapid economic growth, demographic shift, the Civil Rights movement and social/artistic change overwhelmed Ike. The need to get the country moving again after the stasis of Ike lead to election of JFK and uprising of the 1960's.

Slowly but surely Dixie Democrats shifted to the Elephant Party. The way was opened with the Goldwater insurgency. Goldwater's anti-government message, specifically his anti-Federal Government message resonated in Dixie. Republican operatives saw a way to peel off blue-collar Democrats with various and sundry dog-whistles about social issues.

From Nixon forward the Republican Party slowly took over and took on the values of Dixie. Regan did Nixon one better by appealing to the south's special flavor of religiosity.. As the Religious Right became the hardcore grassroots of the Republican Party, the old guard got pushed out by more radical types.

During the ascendancy of the Regan revolution this was no big deal. The steady push away from classical conservatism to reaction and revolution was actually lauded. It only got worse with the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The “victory” over “godless communism” lead to a toxic triumphalism that still poisons the political conversation today. The toxin has infused itself and concentrated itself especially into Republican Party. As this particular toxin is a neurotoxin the organ most affected is the brain. A dangerous rigidity of thought has affected the Republican Party. It is seen in the free market absolutism of the Parties economic proposals. It is seen in the Elephants insistence on further tax cuts and further deregulation. It is seen in the continued cultural regressivism of the party; in its opposition to abortion and gay marriage. It is seen in its almost gleeful defense of authoritarian ideas and methods. The support of torture and the shredding of civil rights are all of a piece. They are symptoms of the authoritarian will to power that afflicts the Republican Party. It is seen in the party’s self-destructive absorption in immigrant bashing. It is seen in the party’s clinging to discredited Neo-Con notions of empire.

In almost every instance it is that insistence on rigidity, on adhering to the myth of Regan and his principled stand on smaller government, less taxes, deregulation, culture of life and most importantly “freedom” that is slowly killing the Republicans. It is the base’s insistence on purity that is relegating the party to irrelevance. The base clings to the myth of Regan because it can not deal with the reality of George W. Bush. It was Bush Jr. that stayed faithful to the ideology of cutting taxes. It was Bush Jr. refused to negotiate with North Korea, with Saddam Hussein, with Iran. It was Bush Jr. It was Bush Jr. that followed NeoCon triumphalism to its illogical conclusion in Iraq. It was Bush Jr. who pushed abstinence only, who placed two anti-Roe appointees on the Supreme Court, who got DOMA passed and yet was still unable to stop the acceptance of Gay Marriage. It was Bush Jr. that oversaw the weakest expansion in U.S. history and the epic flail / epic fail of the sub-prime bubble. The base can still not accept that Bush Jr. was their man, that his catastrophic administration was their albatross.

Like many Republican moderates elsewhere, Spector finally decided that he would take the highway when the base stated “our way or the highway” He is no fool he has the same data as Nate Silver does showing the steady rise of Democratic registrants in the Keystone State. But mostly he probably tired of having to deal with the willfully ignorant troglodytes that now run the party of Lincoln. He must look at Sara Palin and say “if that is the future of the party, I want nothing to do with it.” He is painfully aware that if a “moderate” wants any influence at all they are going to have to pitch in with the Donkeys because the Elephants are no longer interested in anything other than Reganite purity of essence. Spector took a long look at where the Republican Party was headed and decided he wanted no part of a political reenactment of the Bataan Death March.

Powell on "Small Town Values."

Powell shreds the Palin talking point with a heavy dose of reality.

Special Needs Adults

The Republican Nominee for Vice President made a pledge the other day to be a high-placed advocate for special needs children. She further pledged to help increase funding for the education of special needs children if elected. There is a good chance that Sara Palin might actually be serious about this. Her youngest child Trig has Down’s syndrome. In another respect Palin follows a grand tradition of shameless pandering. Championing the cause of special needs children is part of the traditional boilerplate of supporting motherhood, America and a free hot lunch for orphans.

What gets ignored is that special needs children eventually become special needs adults. A child with moderate to sever Autism eventually becomes an adult with moderate to sever Autism. The need for monitoring and supervising the individual does not magically evaporate on their 21^st birthday. One person who is intimately familiar with this situation is Pamela Merritt who blogs under the nom de guerre of “Shark-fu” at “Angry Black Bitch.” From time to time she will post about the realities of supporting a family member with special needs.

One of those realities is the expense. CNN reports the total cost for care can reach five million dollars over the life of an autistic family member. Therapy, treatment, assistance, special materials, and other items cost money. The financial burden alone can be crushing and sometimes is bankrupting. Many middle class families go under because of the cost. Those who are less fortunate find themselves in a truly desperate situation. The social safety net that was supposed to catch these people has been hacked away with manic glee by Republicans and Blue Dog Democrats. In Merritt’s home state of Missouri “$11 million reduction in funding for services for people with mental retardation and developmental disabilities” has been stripped away. That was part of a $1 billion dollar cut in social services that Missouri just inflicted on the people least able to cope with such measures. Mind you that cut is less than one tenth of what it cost us in month to occupy Iraq.

The stark Social Darwinism practiced by the budget cutters is on full display if one bothers to look. As Ms. Merritt points out the fat has long been cut out of programs for special needs adults. We are only a few short steps away from the old Spartan tradition of leaving the “defective” children to die on the mountain. Palin supporters show absolutely no compunction in declaiming loudly how they do not want their tax dollars spent on “undeserving” people. They despise the very notion of social services feeling that monies are doled out to shiftless, lazy reprobates who are unwilling to work. The mindless viciousness of this attitude not only betrays a rank racism (come on good children, just guess what color that mythical “Welfare Queen” is?) but a total cluelessness on how truly desperate the lives are of people on the dole. No, the “Good Christians” who support Sara Palin because she is “filled with the Holy Spirit” have little time or compunction to help the least amongst us. And God help the “invisible class,” those deeply screwed people who have too much income to qualify as “poor” but not enough money to have any comfort in their lives. Theirs is a life of “quiet desperation” one medical bill, one lay-off away from total collapse. For them there is no safety net to speak of.

There is a cruel consistency in Palin’s Christianist mind set. There is no real interest in the disadvantaged as flesh and blood people. No, they are at best set dressing for the larger Passion play. They are props in a moral drama. They are the wheel-chair bound bit players, the extras, in the drama put on by the Armani-Clad, helmet-haired preachers to the assembled masses in their Mega Churches. Once the Preacher has performed his set piece for the edification of the T.V. viewing audience, s/he has no further use for the cute little mite in the wheel chair in the front row. Since autism seems to be resistant to the healing power of the Holy Spirit, since it refuses to respond to the “demon be gone” treatment program, there is little that can be done by people like Pastor Muthe. It is best to sweep that inconvenient truth under the rug. Instead Palin will wave around cute little Trig like a magical amulet; yet another bright shiny object to distract the masses from the awful reality of Republican, every man (or woman) for him (or herself) philosophy. Of course Palin being Palin she up the ante by tossing in the non-sequitur of homeschooling.

There is no subset of children more in need of public assistance and support, the professional help of trained educators, than special needs children. To farm these children out to private Christianist schools is beyond cruel. To leave them in the care of their overburdened, untrained parents is a recipe for disaster. Trained educators with years of training are often overwhelmed and yes burned out by the demands of special needs children. To hope that a parent armed only with a King James Bible and prayer can somehow succeed where dedicated professionals struggle is well beyond the bounds of reason. The bit about “home schooling” was nothing more that a dog-whistle to Palin’s Christianist core supporters.

Simple Sara was not the least bit serious about home schooling, at least for herself. Little Trig is not going to be home schooled in any sense of term that matters. He might go to a private school, but it will be the type of school well beyond the means of Sara’s supporters even after she tosses them the small pittance labeled as “vouchers” by the Republicans. And when Trig grows into adulthood he will enjoy a support system that regular working Americans could only dream about. Not for Trig the vagaries of the public safety net, no he will get all the advantages that a women of power and riches can give.

Meanwhile the average parent of special needs children will continue to worry about their offspring’s future. They will have to contend with those special needs for the rest of their lives and worry about what happens to their scions when they, the parents, are no longer around. The question avoided by McCain and Palin is what happens to Bill Merritt if his family looses the means to support him? Who will help Bill the next time he decides to jump out of a moving vehicle? Who besides Pamela Merritt and her immediate family are Bill’s keepers?

Don’t Know Much Biology

Just the other day at some whistle stop on the campaign Governor Sara Palin delivered some boilerplate to the faithful. The subject was special needs children and her commitment to them. Ignoring how Palin red lined yet another part of the federal Government that will be immune from McCain’s budget freeze ( Defense and Entitlements also being off limits) and the shameless pandering to the home schooling crowd; we needed to look at her wallowing in the talking point of earmarks. Palin was in full McCainiac screed against the government spending U.S. tax dollars on testing of fruit flies in France.

The talking point was so wrong for so many reasons. First, she once again got the pertinent facts wrong. The fruit fly research was done here in the good old U.S.A. But it gets better (or worse from whose perspective you are look at this from.) Those fruit fly experiments were vital for understanding the genetics of, drum roll please- learning disabilities.

The burning question here is what is more appalling, that a candidate for office for the Vice Presidency of the United States is totally ignorant of High School Biology or the fact that thousands of “informed citizens” were also ignorant of these basic facts also. We have already seen Palin fail the test of “Are you smarter than a 3^rd grader” as it applies to the U.S. Government, now she has gone for bonus round and proved once and for all that, at least in Alaska, our children are not learning. Please remember that Palin is a college graduate. Kind of proves that “sports journalism” degrees are not much an of accomplishment.

To see how badly Palin flubbed this we need to go back to those good old days of High School Biology that most of us probably, and Sara Palin definitely, slept through. Just as one can not study geology without a few rocks, one can not study genetics without fruit flies. Drosophila, specifically Drosophila melanogaster is the along with the lab rat part and parcel of any serious study of biology. The “common fruit fly” is as much a part of a biology lab as are the frogs we had to slice up. It is in the parlance of biology a model organism. Their rapid life cycles allow us to multiple generations ( and mutations) in a very short period of time. There is not a High School Biology student that has not had Gregor Mendel peas and Drosophila Melanogaster inflicted on them. Our only small solace was watching the teachers kill those pesky little flies in the name of science.

Unfortunately thousands and perhaps millions of high school students never got past the brief pleasure of insect slaughter to learn the actual lesson the teacher was attempting to impart to them. Far too many of us remain not only profoundly ignorant of basic science but are also belligerently proud of our lack of such knowledge. That cohort was happily hooting and hollering for Sara at the campaign event; they loved the meme of fruit flies in France.

But Sara Palin is not really to blame for this bit of know-nothingism. There is a deep vein of anti-intellectualism in this country. If you look at the ear-marks that McCainiacs love to hate most of them are scientific studies of one kind or another. It is the genetic studies of harbor seals, or crabs, or moose that get the klieg lights shown on them. This is not too surprising as Evolutionary theory lies beneath all these studies. If you reject Darwin’s big idea as “just a theory,” then rejecting any study based on his seminal work is that much easier to ridicule. The major reason scientists study the genome of other animals is because those studies help us understand the genome of humans. Harbor seals, being mammals like us share a significant amount of DNA with humans. There is only a few tens of millions years of divergent evolution between harbor seals and humans.

That last sentence is, of course, deeply offensive to the young earth creationist types that inhabit the Republican Party these days. They not only believe that God zapped those seals in existence but he did so only a few thousand years ago. He did this right after he provided us with a limitless supply of oil but before he came up with the bright idea of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. They can not only quote chapter and verse of why this is true but also prove how this explains why global warming can’t possibly exist. Just look it up in the Old Testament, it is just after the condemnation of sodomy but before the justification of aerial wolf hunting.

This is the sorry state of affairs in our nation. Satire of the Republicans is so easy but then again so hard. They keep racing ahead of the ridicule. It gets positively Dadaesque out there on Republican campaign trail. The contempt for reason, for science, for logic, for common sense is more than palpable; it is a badge of honor. Simple Sara was able to toss her bit of raw meat to the slavering masses because they have had such dainty meals before. The anti-intellectualism, the anti-elitism, the anti-rationalism of the core believers has been stoked time and time again. We are in Orwell’s Animal Farm- “four legs good, two legs bad.” What is truly frightening is that the leader of this assembly is every bit as ignorant, clueless, ridged, and incurious as huddled masses she hectors to. She is George W. Bush without the breeding or the elite training.

Rouge Elephant!!

Palin May Cut Off Handlers

Four Republicans close to Gov. Sarah Palin tell Politico she "has decided increasingly to disregard the advice of the former Bush aides tasked to handle her, creating occasionally tense situations as she travels the country with them."

Said one: "She's lost confidence in most of the people on the plane. I think she'd like to go more rogue."

"The emergence of a Palin faction comes as Republicans gird for a battle over the future of their party: Some see her as a charismatic, hawkish conservative leader with the potential, still unrealized, to cross over to attract moderate voters. Anger among Republicans who see Palin as a star and as a potential future leader has boiled over because, they say, they see other senior McCain aides preparing to blame her in the event he is defeated."

'Saracuda' Smiles While Baiting the Mob

By Taylor Marsh.

If Governor Palin was a man she’d never get away with the halting, rambling political tricks that have now become her stock in trade. If she were a man, her recent performances would get her yanked from the trail. But it seems because she’s a woman she gets a pass. What her fans are revealing should not.

Yesterday it was widely reported that someone at a McCain rally yelled "terrorist." Later, it was reported someone in one of Palin’s crowds yelled "kill him." Today we get the foundation of those Republican chants. It matters little that McCain can’t control his fans, while Sarah Palin doesn’t even try. It matters that Sarah Palin seems to enjoy baiting the mob.

Worse, Palin’s routine attacks on the media have begun to spill into ugliness. In Clearwater, arriving reporters were greeted with shouts and taunts by the crowd of about 3,000. Palin then went on to blame Katie Couric’s questions for her "less-than-successful interview with kinda mainstream media." At that, Palin supporters turned on reporters in the press area, waving thunder sticks and shouting abuse. Others hurled obscenities at a camera crew. One Palin supporter shouted a racial epithet at an African American sound man for a network and told him, "Sit down, boy."

"Treason" yelled another.

McCain-Palin is one YouTube clip away from a wash out. Their crowds seem to know she’ll do nothing about it, which is the same as inciting more.

More at Taylor's Web Site CLICK HERE

Unleash Chiang Kai-Shek!

During the height of the cold war rabid right wingers and other delusional people would chant “unleash Chiang Kai Shek!” The idea being that the leader of the KMT could somehow leap out of his cage of Taiwan and conquer the mainland armies of Mao Tse Tung. Anyone with even the slightest grasp of reality knew this to be an absurdity. It would be like siccing a toy Chihuahua on a Pit Bull.

Flash forward to the present day and the right wingers have not really let go of the fantasy of Chiang Kai-Shek. Even though the Generalissimo long ago transfigured into potting soil his spirit marches on. These days that spirit has alighted on the form of Sara Palin. The battle cry is now “let Sara be Sara.”

This tribal war chant has been picked up by many of the usual suspects. Bill Kristol was an early proponent of the idea as was the National Review, Mitt Romney has now joined the pep squad. This all began shortly after the good governor went on the T.V. machine and performed a truly spectacular belly flop on both ABC and CBS. Her first performance on ABC , a death-defying performance into an empty pool was witnessed by Charlie Gibson and millions of viewers. She badly mauled a softball question about the Bush Doctrine and then tried to go for a daily double one the same subject. This had the chattering classes in absolute shock and the McCain campaign in full damage control mode.

Then came Katie Couric and Palin's dear in headlights performance on C.B.S. The words "train wreck" do not do that performance justice. There were parts in the interview were she was unable to string a single coherent thought or a coherent sentence. She mish-massed talking points in a totally random fashion. She came across as having the I.Q. of a small rock.

Having started out at the Republican convention with huge approval ratings she plummeted downwards in spectacular fashion. Sara Palin aged like a haddock left out on a hot humid August week. And just like a fish she rotted from the head downward. From her solid start as a high net positive she has so stunk up the McCain campaign that she is now a net negative.

The damage is being done in worst possible places. It began early. At first it was an acceptable trade off, her wild support among the Theocratic Republican base and Rush Limbaugh caused a equal reaction in the Democratic base. McCain did not have enthusiastic support amongst the true believers, Palin got them thrilled and motivated. But then it all began to unravel. The lies, misstatements and general weirdness of Sara Palin started piling up. There was the fiasco with her unwed teenaged daughter and the teen fathers political incorrectness. Then there was her tenure as mayor and the raw feelings she left behind along with a 20 million dollar debt. There was her association with loopy separatists in the land of the frozen north; one who just happened to be her husband. Lately all sorts of fun weirdness with her church has popped up on YouTube and progressive blogs. Independents and undecided voters have watched her be skewered on SNL She is quickly transforming from novelty to freak-show in the public mind.

The basic problem for Republicans is not that McCain has cocooned in a media shield, the problem may just be that the public has already seen enough of Sara Palin as it is. She began her life on the public stage as a Tabloid personality and that is a very perilous position for anyone not prepared for such an introduction. There is a story arc to tabloid personalities, they start out as the fresh new face and America’s sweetheart only to get fed into the meat grinder a short while later. Sara Plain is so far fitting into that arc perfectly. The bad news for McCain is that Sara’s story is on the downward phase of the arc. Couric still has some whoppers of Sara’s in the can and they are going to be played out until the V.P. debate for maximum ratings advantage. The Sara Palin Story is going to be filled in and it is not going to be pretty. Palin us being pegged as cute, sweet lady who just beyond her depth as a candidate for high office.

The only good news for McCain and Palin is that the bar will be set so low for her at the V.P. debate that all she has to do is show up to “win.” She is being drilled by the McCain staff all week in preparation for her show-down with Joe Biden. Unless she really is as dumb as peat-moss she will acquit herself nicely in the debate. Biden better not get cocky, and he better not indulge in his favorite pastime of sticking his foot in his mouth. Palin might get a nice bounce in the polls coming out of that debate if Biden does not take her seriously. Even so it will be a “dead cat bounce” at best.

Palin’s fundamentals have not changed, she is still the incurious, parochial, vicious small town pol she always has been. She is still the product of Ted “Tubes” Stevens political machine and the sordid, deeply corrupt Alaska Republican Party. She is still the woman who’s ambitions far outstrips her abilities. By all means set her loose and let her be herself. The more people see of the “real Sara” the less they will like.

McCain's Naked Sexism

BY TAYLOR MARSH

Meet John McCain’s mannequin. Her name is Sarah Palin.

The AP reporter shouted a question at Gov. Palin (-??Governor, what have you learned from your meetings?-??) but McCain aide Brooke Buchanan intervened and shepherded everybody out of the room. Palin looked surprised, leaned over to McCain and asked him a question, to which your pooler thinks he shook his head as if to say -??No.-??

McCain’s stunt to suspend his campaign, it turns out, may be just a stunt to save Sarah by getting the veep debate postponed as well. Seriously, the Republicans aren’t even trying to pretend Palin has the chops for the job.

Campbell Brown put it to words on CNN. With a blaring "Free Sarah Palin" graphic, Brown revealed what Republicans have been doing to Sarah since she was tapped:

"Tonight I call on the McCain campaign to stop treating Sarah Palin like she is a delicate flower that will wilt at any moment," said Brown. "This woman is from Alaska from crying out loud. She is strong. She is tough. She is competent. And you claim she is ready to be one heart beat away form the presidency. If that is the case, then end this chauvinistic treatment of her now. Allow her to show her stuff. Allow her to face down those pesky reporters... Let her have a real news conference with real questions. By treating Sarah Palin different from the other candidates in this race, you are not showing her the respect she deserves. Free Sarah Palin. Free her from the chauvinistic chain you are binding her with. Sexism in this campaign must come to an end. Sarah Palin has just as much a right to be a real candidate in this race as the men do. So let her act like one."

McCain and the Republicans are muzzling her. Simple as that.

Now, I’ve gotten a lot of emails about the reviews I’ve been giving Palin since she was chosen. Count me with Cottle:

I’m not so defensive about where I come from that I feel the need to champion a wildly unqualified fellow hick whose politics I disagree with as a way to get back at everyone I know who has ever made a sniffy comment about big hair or small towns.

The emails don’t phase me at all, because I’ve had this pegged from the start. The only reason the Republicans chose Palin had absolutely nothing to do with her competency or anything else remotely related to her political prowess. It was because of her gender, first hoping to win over gullible Hillary supporters, the unhinged fringe contingent, and also because of her hard right wing views that would seduce McCain’s base. Though it’s hard to believe Dr. Dobson and company would get down with what Max Blumenthal caught on tape, which is an absolutely frightening church video of Palin at services recently that rivals anything ever unearthed about a national politician.

But we really got a good illustration of what McCain and the Republicans think of having the first woman on their national ticket, when Sarah was silenced once again. Sarah is allowed to be seen but not heard. The little woman simply cannot be trusted when her mouth is open. Traipsing her out for foreign policy photo ops, the McCain team thought they could keep reporters away from her, muzzling mom because she might blow it. After all, can’t trust a woman to actually utter a sound in front of the vaunted Henry Kissinger, now can we?

This is typical Republican behavior with women. Bush gave Christie Todd Whitman a big job at the EPA, then ignored her until she had to resign. Dr. Rice was given big national security jobs one after the other, but never given any real authority, which was instead handed off to Bush’s boys Cheney and Rummy. Women are symbols for Republicans. They’re never leaders with responsibility.

Women figureheads will do. Giving them actual authority will not.

So, McCain’s mannequin, Sarah Palin, continues to be used, insulted, made smaller, because John McCain doesn’t really think much of what women have to offer. There has never been a vice presidential running mate more scripted, controlled and handled than Governor Sarah Palin. It’s a window into why McCain thinks women need more training, not equal pay. Why women’s civil rights is an afterthought for him. Why he allows the religious right to sway him more and more, because "traditional values" to Republicans mean the opposite of equal rights.

The other ugly truth is that McCain and the Republicans are nervous about what Sarah Palin might say, because she cannot be trusted. So they’re keeping the little woman quiet. No speech on foreign policy. Not even serious interviews on matters of national security, which every other vice presidential candidate has had to endure. Oh right, but that’s only for the guys, and to say otherwise is "sexist."

Hillary moved women forward in the arena of national security and foreign policy, taking tough interviews and answering tough questions at every turn. Standing up and punching back at every question asked, having policy prescriptions and answers for whatever challenge the U.S. might face. She did it with over 30 retired flag officers standing beside her.

Sarah Palin sets women back. Way back. She gives no substantive policy speeches. She can’t even answer questions from reporters by herself. Sarah must be coddled at all cost. She doesn’t give interviews after meeting with world leaders. All of this giving more room for the Sunday shows and other outlets to exclude women from serious conversations, especially on matters of war and peace, because as far as McCain and his team are concerned not even Palin, who might be vice president (perhaps president), is up to the task.

Following on Hillary’s example, many are condoning McCain’s mannequin to become the new standard by which women are to be judged. Not as equal to men, but as symbols to sit in silence. Shame on anyone sanctioning McCain’s naked sexism, though no doubt Henry Kissinger is delighted that Sarah proved once again that power is the ultimate aphrodisiac. When Palin finished meeting with him, in front of cameras no less, she gave the big lug a hug and a kiss, along with another smile for the press. Sarah’s so sweet. But for McCain’s sake, just make sure she keeps her mouth shut!

Hey, but Rush rambles on with bullish praise for Palin. That’s because Sarah fits his mold. Republican eye candy is what Palin provides. Seducing world leaders, one man at a time. Because as far as McCain is concerned, the rest is men’s work.

McCain's Integrity

By Andrew Sullivan

For me, this surreal moment - like the entire surrealism of the past ten days - is not really about Sarah Palin or Barack Obama or pigs or fish or lipstick. It's about John McCain. The one thing I always thought I knew about him is that he is a decent and honest person. When he knows, as every sane person must, that Obama did not in any conceivable sense mean that Sarah Palin is a pig, what did he do? Did he come out and say so and end this charade? Or did he acquiesce in and thereby enable the mindless Rovianism that is now the core feature of his campaign?

So far, he has let us all down. My guess is he will continue to do so. And that decision, for my part, ends whatever respect I once had for him. On core moral issues, where this man knew what the right thing was, and had to pick between good and evil, he chose evil. When he knew that George W. Bush's war in Iraq was a fiasco and catastrophe, and before Donald Rumsfeld quit, McCain endorsed George W. Bush against his fellow Vietnam vet, John Kerry in 2004. By that decision, McCain lost any credibility that he can ever put country first. He put party first and his own career first ahead of what he knew was best for the country.

And when the Senate and House voted overwhelmingly to condemn and end the torture regime of Bush and Cheney in 2006, McCain again had a clear choice between good and evil, and chose evil.

He capitulated and enshrined torture as the policy of the United States, by allowing the CIA to use techniques as bad as and worse than the torture inflicted on him in Vietnam. He gave the war criminals in the White House retroactive immunity against the prosecution they so richly deserve. The enormity of this moral betrayal, this betrayal of his country's honor, has yet to sink in. But for my part, it now makes much more sense. He is not the man I thought he was.

And when he had the chance to engage in a real and substantive debate against the most talented politician of the next generation in a fall campaign where vital issues are at stake, what did McCain do? He began his general campaign with a series of grotesque, trivial and absurd MTV-style attacks on Obama's virtues and implied disgusting things about his opponent's patriotism.

And then, because he could see he was going to lose, ten days ago, he threw caution to the wind and with no vetting whatsoever, picked a woman who, by her decision to endure her own eight-month pregnancy of a Down Syndrome child in public, that he was going to reignite the culture war as a last stand against Obama. That's all that is happening right now: a massive bump in the enthusiasm of the Christianist base. This is pure Rove.

Yes, McCain made a decision that revealed many appalling things about him. In the end, his final concern is not national security. No one who cares about national security would pick as vice-president someone who knows nothing about it as his replacement. No one who cares about this country's safety would gamble the security of the world on a total unknown because she polled well with the Christianist base. No person who truly believed that the surge was integral to this country's national security would pick as his veep candidate a woman who, so far as we can tell anything, opposed it at the time.

McCain has demonstrated in the last two months that he does not have the character to be president of the United States. And that is why it is more important than ever to ensure that Barack Obama is the next president. The alternative is now unthinkable. And McCain - no one else - has proved it.

Vetting Via Tabloids

PALIN FAMILY SHOCKERS: WHAT SARAH'S REALLY HIDING!

The NATIONAL ENQUIRER’S exclusive ongoing investigation of GOP VP Nom Sarah 'Barracuda' Palin’s goes far beyond a mere teen pregnancy crisis this week!

The Enquirer’s team of reporters has combed the Alaskan wilderness to discover the hidden truth about Gov. Palin’s family, which has become a central part of political identity.

The ENQUIRER has learned exclusively that Sarah's oldest son, Track, was addicted to the power drug OxyContin for nearly the past two years, snorting it, eating it, smoking it and even injecting it. And as Track, 19, heads to Iraq as part of the U.S. armed forces, Sarah and her husband Todd were powerless to stop his wild antics, detailed in the new issue of The ENQUIRER, which goes on sale today.

THE ENQUIRER also has exclusive details about Track's use of other drugs, including cocaine, and his involvement in a notorious local vandalism incident.

“I’ve partied with him (Track) for years,” a source disclosed. “I’ve seen him snort cocaine, snort and smoke OxyContin, drink booze and smoke weed.”

The source also divulged the girls would do anything for Track and he’d use his local celebrity to manipulate other guys “to get them to steal things he wanted.”

“He finally did what a lot of troubled kids here do,” the source divulged. “You join the military.”

And as Gov. Palin has billed the state of Alaska for various expenses related to her children, as reported by The Washington Post, The ENQUIRER's investigation reveals that she was so incensed by 17-year-old Bristol's pregnancy that she banished her daughter from the house.

Another family friend revealed pre-prego Bristol was as much of a hard partier as Track was.

“Bristol was a huge stoner and drinker. I’ve seen her smoke pot and get drunk and make out with so many guys. All the guys would brag that the just made out with Bristol.”

When Sarah found out the teen was pregnant by high schooler Levi Johnston, she was actually banished from the house. As part of the cover-up, Palin quickly transferred Bristol to another high school and made her move in with Sarah’s sister Heather 25 miles away!

And the ENQUIRER also learned that Levi Johnston, the baby mamma’s future wedded dada, who was glad handed by John McCain at the GOP Convention, isn’t too happy about his impending shotgun nups either.

“Levi got dragged out of the house to go to Minnesota,” Levi’s friend told The ENQUIRER. “Levi realizes he’s stuck being with Bristol because her mom is running for Vice President.”

The friend also confided that both Bristol and Levi “broke up a few times and they definitely messed around with other people.”

Meanwhile, as members of the Palin family’s war viciously over “Trooper-Gate” and claims of Sarah’s extramarital affair have turned the political race into a chaotic arena of threats, denials and vicious attacks by political black ops, The ENQUIRER has discovered shocking new details about the red-hot affair scandal!

Snip

That weeping you hear in the background is John McCain and the Republican Party coming to grips with the "Hockey mom" and her dysfunctional family.

Celebrity Hockey Mom

The weird, wild and wondrous roll out of Sara Palin was the highlight of the Republican convention. After a rocky beginning Sara pumped out a great speech that was music to the right wings ears. The image managers of the Republican Party did an excellent job. Many of the pundit class are now singing praises for Palin.

But what really happened in the twin cities? The initial roll out of Palin was so disastrous, it set the bar so low. that Sara would have to be a world champion limbo performer to go underneath it. Palin would have to have laterally tripped over herself and collapsed on the lecture like Chevy Chase to fail her speech. She did not, she practice the speech for five hours prior to reading it off the Teleprompters.

But to quote the X-files “the truth is out there.” While the Republican Party has unleashed a horde of lawyers on the 49th state there are just not enough lawyers to prevent the dirt from escaping. Take Troopergate for instance. It is a juicy story of revenge, skulduggery and just general weirdness. At base it is the story of a messy celebrity divorce. Make no mistake Sara Palin is now a certified, died-in-the-wool celebrity.

Palin is story ripe for the tabloids. A out-of-nowhere politician gets plucked by a war hero to be a heart-beat away from the presidency. That she is knock-dead gorgeous after delivering five children is just an extra added bonus. Extra points for the quirky cute names of the children, more points for her last child being a downs-syndrome baby. The whole family is so dang telegenic they should be banned for life. And that is their Achilles heel. They are just too dang perfect.

For now the masses are oohing and ahing at this cute collection but it is early in the game. The National Enquire is already dumpster-diving into the lives and loves of the Palin family. The oldest teen-aged daughter had the bad form to end up pregnant and that little fact became front page news. Piper Palin’s pregnancy (love the alliteration) is now part of the our insatiable need for gossip.

Now that the Palins have entered the tabloid consciousness they are going to find out getting out of trailer park is going to much more difficult then they ever imagined. The Republicans pleas of “privacy” are sooner or later going to fall on deaf ears. There is just too much juicy scandal to be mined in the mountains of Alaska. This going to be a repeat of the Klondike gold rush.

As the trash gets revealed the Republican strategy of keeping the sharks of the media away from Palin’s bleeding body is going to fail. Sooner or later either Palin or McCain has some ‘splainin’ to do. Republicans want to run on narrative, but the narrative that is Palin is an eventual looser. She fits the Britney Spears / Lindsay Lohan mold a little too easily.